Third Time Unlucky for LSE & DB

Wednesday, 29 March: As you may have heard we have now triggered Article 50. Yes, after months of petitions, debates, votes, opinions and all that jazz, Theresa May has finally sent our official letter of resignation. As much of the markets had already priced this in, given the lengthy time it has taken, there weren’t any major movements off the back of this, apart from a slight boost to London shares and the pound, despite falling early doors. So that’s new, both the sterling and the FTSE climbing at the same time? Well would you look at that…..

Now we get to enjoy the endless further opinions and inevitable ‘I told you sos’ as negotiations and discussions commence on our friends with benefits relationship with the European Union. As we write the pound sits at €1.155 as the FTSE finishes the day 0.41% higher. Despite the fairly solid European session US equities have began a little subdued, the Dow falling 0.25% with the S&P effectively flat.

One major announcement during the day was the news that EU regulators have stopped the LSE’s proposed merger with Deutsche Boerse. The London stock exchange and German stock exchange merger would have coupled Europe’s two largest exchanges, but the commission has stated it would have created a ‘de facto monopoly’ for certain financial services. Third time lucky? Not so much. LSE shares closed 2.71% higher.

Taxi hire firm Uber is to cease operations in Denmark due to a change in legislation. All cabs are now required to have seat sensors and fare meters. Uber employs approximately 2,000 drivers in the country. An unfare-well for Uber.